Plans for Austria's Nazi-era towers spark controversy

[Fade]

Plans for Austria's Nazi-era towers spark controversy

By Bethany Bell
BBC News, Vienna

Scattered through Vienna are six huge anti-aircraft towers, a grim reminder of the city's Nazi past.

The flak towers were put up during the Second World War between 1942 and 1945. They were built in pairs in parks in the heart of the city.

Guns to shoot down Allied fighter planes were placed high on the concrete bastions and hundreds of civilians took shelter inside during bombing raids.

But the architectural historian, Ute Bauer, who is taking part in a study of the towers, says their main purpose was propaganda.

"The towers were meant as a sign of the military strength of the Third Reich, to show that the allied bombers could be defeated.

"In 1943 when the towers were built, the authorities already knew the bombers flew higher - so they were of no military use, but they built them regardless."

She says that underground air raid shelters were more effective protection for the civilian population than the landmark towers.

Article continued at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8625671.stm

[JCR]

A lot of military fail from that architectural historian there.
Nothing flew high enough to avoid centrally controlled 12,8 or 10,5 cm Flak.

[Dercius]

A lot of military fail from that architectural historian there.
Nothing flew high enough to avoid centrally controlled 12,8 or 10,5 cm Flak.

x2
Another clear example of retarded Journo, who didnt even took 5 minutes to read about the allied bombing campaign and about the monstruous death ratio of allied bomber crewmembers during the war

[JCR]

A single look at the Wikipedia article either in english or in german would've helped her.
Basically, Flak bunkers were platforms for 12,8 cm twin flak guns, which couldn't be emplaced in urban areas otherwise because of blast damage.
They basically worked as land flak cruisers, with optical and radar fire control linked to a mechanical computer.
Ammunition hoists and internal workings were very similar to a warship.
There was always a G-Turm (Gefechtsturm, Battle tower) and an L-Turm (Leitturm, direction tower).
Vienna is the only city where both types are preserved. In Berlin there are only ruins while in Hamburg only the Battle towers survive as they are too massive to be demolished.
In visible conditions these could be deadly, even against land targets, as the soviets found out in Berlin.
Radar was often jammed by window/chaff though, but they could still fire barrage or try to acquire visually at night in combination with searchlights.

[Get_It]

I don't want to comment on right-wing groups or anything like that, but from that article it seems that instead of wanting to keep them for historically reasons they are trying to make people believe that those towers there for Nazi propaganda, and then that politician of the Green Party clearly states that the main reason for opening the towers for the public is for anti-right-wing propaganda.

Where are the real military historians in all of this?

Cheers,

[Mastermind]

I disagree that dismantling them is too expensive. However, dismantling them could be very disrupting. They could be excellent foundations for new "hanging" structures or cantilevered structures, such as office buildings and apartment buildings. I could envision some architectural competition to generate ideas on how to use them constructively as ultra strong foundations for new hig-rise buildings.

They truly are interesting to look at, from a technical point of view...and ugly from a historical view. If the public were inclined to hate them enough, there certainly could be a grass-roots campaign to finance a dismantling fund.

I think, however, one at least , should be saved pristine for historical purposes...as painful as the memory is that the towers invoke, it should never be completely forgotten by future generations.

[Xaito]

But Sabine Gretner from the Green Party believes the towers should be opened to the public - as a reminder of a dark period of history
I agree with this lady.
I've visited some bunkers and a Gestapo cellar in the city I live in and it's a unique insight into history to which everybody who is interested should have access imho.
The worst thing they could do is to destroy these towers/bunkers.

[pSipi]

AFAIK one of the towers houses a tropical aquarium and another is used by Austrian army as some kind of HQ.

[tluassa]

There are dozens of these Towers left in German cities, most of them have been turned into some kind of function. ... The one in Hamburg hosts a Disco and a Media Centre, another one an Aquarium. Or they serve as oberservation platform or museum.


This one looks like a Zombie containment centre :)

Dont they look simply great ? :) A perfect fortress :)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Flakbunker-Heiligengeistfeld-Hamburg.jpg/800px-Flakbunker-Heiligengeistfeld-Hamburg.jpg

[nemowork]

I hate to say it but they still look a lot more attractive than the system built tower blocks we put up in the sixties.

[Xaito]

There are dozens of these Towers left in German cities, most of them have been turned into some kind of function. ... The one in Hamburg hosts a Disco and a Media Centre, another one an Aquarium. Or they serve as oberservation platform or museum.


This one looks like a Zombie containment centre :)

Dont they look simply great ? :) A perfect fortress :)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Flakbunker-Heiligengeistfeld-Hamburg.jpg/800px-Flakbunker-Heiligengeistfeld-Hamburg.jpg

were the windows added later on or is that how these towers were built?

[nemowork]

I think they were built that way but used steel shutters instead of glass for obvious reasons

[nemowork]

http://content.imagesocket.com/images/Picture_1d7f.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/Picture_1d7f.jpg)

There you go, Berlin zoo's flak tower complete with windows and steel shutters. Most bunkers were ransacked to recycle blast doors and other high quality material so i'd imagine the shutters went at the same time.

[Euroamerican]

Leave 'em alone!!!! People shouldn't forget the past, and these are strong reminders of what happens when evil takes over. That these huge defensive fortifications would need to be constructed, shows the strength of the response to the National Socialists. In addition, that they did not save the cities from bombings also shows that even the most powerful evil can be defeated.

[Xaito]

Leave 'em alone!!!! People shouldn't forget the past, and these are strong reminders of what happens when evil takes over. That these huge defensive fortifications would need to be constructed, shows the strength of the response to the National Socialists. In addition, that they did not save the cities from bombings also shows that even the most powerful evil can be defeated.

you've got quite the active imagination... ;)
to me these look like reminders of times of war - the buildings themselves are solutions for pressing problems not some sinister temples of evil ... :)

[custodes]

Condos.....just think how quiet they would be inside with those concrete walls?